Ink jet prints are quickly reaching high levels of performance with respect to quality, cost and ease or speed at which ink jet prints are produced with the result that ink jet prints are beginning to compete against traditional silver halide produced prints.
One major problem with ink jet prints is durability. In this respect, traditional silver halide produced prints are much more durable than ink jet prints. For example, most dye based ink jet prints can be easily ruined by exposure to water. Pigmented inks are far more durable but have the disadvantage of being less reliable (clogging of ink jet orifices) and being more costly.
One way to improve ink jet print durability is to apply a laminate to the printed surface. This is accomplished by transferring a laminate overcoat, typically a polymer film, from a donor support to the image surface by means of a lamination fuser immediately following the printing process.
A second way to improve durability is by incorporating an overcoat on top of the raw stock media that allows ink to pass through and into an ink receiver layer on the raw stock as the image is printed. The inked image then is run through a fusing process, which seals the overcoat material over the ink receiver layer.
In both cases, the resulting durable print takes on the characteristics of the print stock. For example the print stock may have either a glossy or a matte finish and the laminated or overcoat print will have a like finish. While a majority prefers or at least accepts glossy finish prints, a marketing disadvantage exists for these prints relative to silver halide. This disadvantage is simply the fact that silver halide prints can be printed in many finishes with glossy and matte being the predominate choices. Therefore, it would be desirable to give a customer the option obtaining ink jet prints with either glossy or matte finishes and possibly other textures as well.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved method and apparatus for producing a selectable gloss finish in ink jet prints.
Another object of the invention is an improved method and apparatus for providing a laminated ink jet print with a uniform matte finish wherein the laminate has a variable glass transition temperature.
A further object is to provide an improved method and apparatus for providing a laminated ink jet print with a uniform matte finish using heat and pressure to soften a laminate covering the print in order to impress the softened laminate with a textured surface.
Yet another object is to provide a method and apparatus for providing a sheet having a variable humectant content with a selected gloss finish.